Politics 327 The Japanese Political System

Winter 2002

MWF, 1 pm, Williams 220

Professor Robin Le Blanc (return to Le Blanc’s home page)

Office Hours: (These are subject to some change based on my other institutional commitments. I always do my best to arrange convenient meeting times; please contact me via phone or email if you would like an appointment.)	Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:30 – 3:30; Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:00 – 11:30 And other times by appointment.
Email	mailto:leblancr@wlu.edu
Phone	463 - 8612
Office	Williams 315

Links for Information About Japanese Politics

English-language News Publications in Asia

Links for Doing Research About Japan

Course Objectives

This course is an intensive investigation of the workings of the Japanese political system. We begin with Japan’s establishment of itself as a modern nation-state in the nineteenth century and follow the development of political institutions and processes to the heart of the policy problems challenging today’s leaders. However, our primary focus will be on the way in which Japan functions (and sometimes struggles to function) as a modern democracy. This means that we will study the processes, institutions, and organizations that are supposed to guarantee Japanese citizens representation in their polity. We will place a special emphasis on examining the power brokers and participants in national electoral politics, political parties, and local politics.

Our study of Japan has many potential rewards. After the United States, Japan has the second largest economy in the world and is the second largest contributor to the United Nations. And Japan is in the process of reexamining its more than 50-year moratorium on military involvement in international affairs. Japan is a global power; how Japanese politics works is globally important, especially in an era where some of the most pressing problems individual nations must face (financial instability or environmental destruction, for examples) require international solutions. Japan is also the longest lived democracy in East Asia. In fact, it offers an important model of how democratic politics may be made to work outside the cultural context of the North Atlantic states, and therefore, a study of Japanese politics presents a rich case for examining the relationship between institutions and culture in political systems. Yet, while Japan differs in significant respects from the nations of North America and Europe, it also struggles with many of the same political concerns—everything from the costs of a growing aging population to a decline in voter turnout. As a challenge, an example, a guide, a warning, and as a series of complicated problems against which to test and improve our skills as analysts of political life, Japan should serve us well.

Required Texts

(Please note: Important required readings are on reserve in the library, especially early in the course.)

Ishida, Takeshi and Ellis S. Krauss, eds. Democracy in Japan. University of Pittsburgh Press, 1989.

Schlesinger, Jacob M. Shadow Shoguns: The Rise and Fall of Japan’s Postwar Political Machine. Stanford University Press, 1999.

Hrebnar, Ronald J., et. al. Japan’s New Party System. Westview Press, 2000.

Masuzoe Yoichi, ed. Years of Trial: Japan in the 1990s. Japan Echo, Inc., 2000. (Note: As of the writing of this syllabus, this text was not available at the bookstore but due to arrive within the month. Do not forget to return to purchase it in February.)

Smith, Sheila A. Local Voices, National Issues: The Impact of Local Initiative in Japanese Policy-Making. Center for Japanese Studies, The University of Michigan, 2000.

Course Policies

This is an upper-level seminar course. Do not expect lectures. Great emphasis will be placed on your constructive participation in class discussion and on your independent thinking about the reading we are doing together and the research you are conducting for your term project. This is a small class, and that means that, with a little effort, you and your classmates can construct an invigorating learning community where you are each challenged to perform well and each rewarded for your engagement in the material at hand with the attention of your fellow students and with the opportunity to travel beyond the normal limits of classroom discussion into topics tailored to your individual interests. Unfortunately, the small size also means that the poor participation of even one or two individuals could turn the seminar environment into drudgery. Of course, I will bring all of my own passion and energy for the study of Japan to our investigations. However, I know from experience that, as a teacher, I have only limited control over the classroom atmosphere. You do not need to have a strong foundation in Japanese studies in order to succeed in this course, but you do need a healthy commitment to learning as much about the complicated Japanese political worlds as you can. Treat each other well by coming to class fully prepared, by being willing to explore your thinking about an issue out loud, by being willing to decide your opinions are incorrect, and by being supportive of your fellow students’ efforts to examine alternative views. Concern for the comfort and success of those around you is highly valued in Japanese group members.

Everything you do in this course should be undertaken in conformity with the spirit of the Washington and Lee University Honor Code. Please pledge all of your written work. Should you ever have any question regarding whether your work meets my standards for work that may be fairly pledged, please feel free to consult me. I will do my best to answer questions frankly and fully.

Course attendance is required, and I expect that when you attend you will be fully prepared to conduct discussion on any part of the assigned work. I realize that, on rare occasion, an absence from class may be unavoidable, but I do reserve the right to penalize you for more than three unexcused absences by making a deduction in your final course grade at my discretion. This penalty may include failure of the course. Make-up exams will only be given in extraordinary circumstances. Late work will be accepted only if I choose to accept it and may be penalized up to a whole letter grade per day late. Pop quizzes are part of your participation grade and, as such, may never be made up.

If some extraordinary difficulty befalls you and you believe you are deserving of an exception from any of the above policies, please let me know about your situation as soon as possible. I will try to be as accommodating as fairness allows.

Course Assignments

Assignment	Portion of Final Grade
Good Citizenship: Preparedness, participation, pop quizzes	10 per cent
Current Issues Briefs (2 during term, 2 typed pages each)	5 per cent each
Midterm Examination February 13	20 per cent
Paper Proposal (5 – 7 typed pages, plus bibliography of 5 sources) Due Friday, March 8	15 per cent
Paper Final Draft (12 – 15 typed pages, plus bibliography of 8 sources) Due Wednesday, April 3	25 per cent
Final Exam	20 per cent

Reading Guide

Date	Assigned Reading
Monday, Jan. 7	Introduction to course
Wednesday, Jan. 9	On reserve at library. Howell, David L., “Visions of the Future in Meiji Japan,” in Historical Perspectives on Contemporary East Asia (Harvard University Press, 2000), 85 - 118. In Democracy in Japan, Ishida and Krauss, “Democracy in Japan: Issues and Questions,” 3 - 16
Friday, Jan. 11 (Drop/Add ends)	No class. I will be off campus for Williams School Planning Meeting. However, please do the following reading and complete the take-home quiz for Monday, Jan. 14. On reserve at library. Garon, Sheldon, “State and Society in Interwar Japan,” in Historical Perspectives on Contemporary East Asia (Harvard University Press, 2000), 155 – 182.
Wednesday, Jan. 16	On reserve at library. Chapter 13 from Beasley, W.G., The Rise of Modern Japan: Political, Economic, and Social Change Since 1850 (St. Martin’s Press, 2000), 213 – 226. In Shadow Shoguns, 17 – 58 (Tanaka Kakuei’s early years)
Friday, Jan. 18 (Founders’ Day / Adjusted class schedule)	In Democracy in Japan. Krauss, “Politics and the Policymaking Process,” 39 – 64. And Campbell, “Democracy and Bureaucracy in Japan,” 113 – 137.
Monday, Jan. 21 (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day)	On reserve at library. Chapter 6, “The Institutions of High-Speed Growth,” from Johnson, Chalmers, MITI and the Japanese Miracle: The Growth of Industrial Policy, 1925 – 1975 (Stanford University Press, 1982), 198 – 241.
Wednesday, Jan. 23	In Shadow Shoguns, 59 – 82 (Tanaka’s years in the spotlight.)
Friday, Jan. 25	In Japan’s New Party System (henceforth referred to as Parties), Hrebnar, “The Rules of the Game: The Impact of the Electoral System on Political Parties,” (37 – 58) and Hrebnar “The Money Base of Japanese Politics,” (59 – 83).
Monday, Jan. 28	In Shadow Shoguns, 93 – 130 (Tanaka as a shadow shogun)
Wednesday, Jan. 30	In Shadow Shoguns, 131 – 154 (Tanaka as a shadow shogun) Note: This is an easy reading. You may want to go ahead and get a jump on the longer one for Wednesday!!
Friday, Feb. 1 (Conference on campus commemorating 50^th anniversary of the publication of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man.)	In Parties, Hrebnar and Nakamura, “The Liberal Democratic Party: Still the Most Powerful Party in Japan,” (85 –147).
Monday, Feb. 4	In Parties, Stockwin, “The Social Democratic Party (Formerly Japan Socialist Party): A Turbulent Odyssey,” (209 – 251).
Wednesday, Feb. 6	In Parties, Berton “Japanese Communist Party: The ‘Lovable’ Party,” (253 – 299).
Friday, Feb. 8	On reserve in library. Gordon, Andrew, “Contests for the Workplace,” in Postwar Japan as History, Andrew Gordon, ed., (University of California Press, 1993), 373 – 394. And, in Democracy in Japan, Turner, “Democratic Consciousness in Japanese Unions,” (299 – 323).
Monday, Feb. 11	On reserve in library. From Ogasawara, Yuko, Office Ladies and Salaried Men: Power, Gender, and Work in Japanese Companies (University of California Press, 1998): Chapters 2 (44 – 69) and 4, (98 – 113).
Wednesday, Feb. 13	Midterm Examination
Friday, Feb. 15	In Parties, Hrebnar, “The Komeito Returns: The Party of ‘Buddhist Democracy,’” (167 – 207).
Monday, Feb. 18 – Friday, Feb. 22 is Washington Week (Eat and sleep right, okay!)	No class. Midterm grades are due for first-year students. You are halfway done.
Monday, Feb. 25	Paper conferences held this week. In Years of Trial: Japan in the 1990s (henceforth referred to as Trial), Yamaori Tetsuo, “Aum Shinrikyo Sounds the Death Knell of Japanese Religion,” (226 – 237).
Wednesday, Feb. 27	In Shadow Shoguns, 159 – 200 (rise of Bubble politics).
Friday, March 1	In Shadow Shoguns, 202 - 227 (rise of Bubble politics).
Monday, March 4	In Shadow Shoguns, 232 – 251 (collapse of machine politics).
Wednesday, March 6	In Shadow Shoguns, 252 – 278 (collapse of machine politics).
Friday, March 8	Paper proposals due.
Monday, March 11	In Parties, Hrebnar, “The New Parties of the Second Party System,” (149 – 166).
Wednesday, March 13	On reserve in library. Allinson, Gary D., “The Structure and Transformation of Conservative Rule,” in Postwar Japan as History, Andrew Gordon, ed., (University of California Press, 1993), 123 – 144.
Friday, March 15	In Trial, Kosaka Masataka, “The Forces at Work in the Political Shakeup,” (14 – 39). In Trial, Kabashima Ikuo, “An Ideological Survey of Japan’s National Legislators,” (51 – 67).
Monday, March 18	In Democracy in Japan, Macdougall, “Democracy and Local Government in Postwar Japan,” (139 – 169). And, in Local Voices, Gilman, “Same Old, Same Old? Center-Local Relations in Urban Redevelopment,” (31 – 50).
Wednesday, March 20	In Local Voices, Maclachlan, “Information Disclosure and the Center-Local Relationship in Japan,” 9 – 30.
Friday, March 22	In Local Voices, Smith, “Challenging National Authority: Okinawa Prefecture and the U.S. Military Bases,” (75 – 114).
Monday, March 25	In Trial, interview and other information on Defense Guidelines, 68 – 102. And a contemporary issues piece, TBA.
Wednesday, March 27	In Trial, Sakaiya Taichi, “The 1993 Watershed and the Agenda for Reform” and Shimada Haruo “Asset Inflation and the Strained Social Fabric,” (116 – 145).
Friday, March 29	In Trial, Morita Akio, “A Critical Moment for Japanese Management” and Ushio Jiro, Ronald Dore, “Constancy and Change in Japanese Management,” (163 – 190).
Monday, April 1	In Trial, Kusaka Kimindo, “The Demise of the Japanese Salaryman,” 200 – 209 and Jinno Naohiko, “Public Pensions: Replacing the Tattered Social Safety Net” and Yashiro Naohiro “The Nursing Care Insurance System: Its Promise and Its Problems,” (268 – 284).
Wednesday, April 3	Final Papers due.
Friday, April 5	Last class.